


My Favorite Christmas Ornament

by teej_318



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Eve, F/M, Loneliness, M/M, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Reunion, Sad Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, will the wise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teej_318/pseuds/teej_318
Summary: Mike Wheeler returns home for Christmas for the first time in years, having just helped run a winning presidential election. His nephew, Jake, presents Mike with Mike's favorite Christmas decoration from childhood, bringing back memories of a simpler time and reminding Mike just how important Will is to him.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	My Favorite Christmas Ornament

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paladinscleric](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paladinscleric/gifts).



> For Whitney, David and Jake, my Byeler friends.
> 
> Also for frogfaceandzombieboy on Tumblr, who is once again running the brilliant Byeler Holiday Bash for us creators this year. Go and check out all of the creative works being made for the Byeler Holiday Bash!

Mike took a deep breath, trying to think positive thoughts before he knocked on the door. It had taken a lot of reckoning with himself not to try and find a way not to come home for Christmas, despite his own misgivings about returning home and seeing his family. He hadn't been home for Christmas in many years; he was almost always too busy working and couldn't make it. This year, however, his boss had insisted that he go home when Mike got the invite. Since Mike could rarely ever say no to his boss (a wonderful woman), Mike had agreed that he would go home. 

He knocked on the door and waited with bated breath. Before he could change his mind, the door opened and there was his sister, Nancy, beaming at Mike in the doorway.

"Mike it's so wonderful to see you!" Nancy exclaimed.

"It's good to see you too, Nance," Mike said in a calm tone as his sister pulled him in for a bone-cracking hug.

"What, you not excited to see me, Mike?"

"No, it's not that, I'm just exhausted," Mike said. "Being part of a presidential campaign and now part of the transition isn't easy, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we're gonna hear all about the election you helped win," Nancy said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Until then, your brother-in-law and nephew wanna see you."

"Jonathan wants to see me?" Mike asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, why wouldn't he?" Nancy asked, frowning.

Mike shrugged.

"Because I wasn't that good of a friend to his brother," Mike said. "To be honest, I'm surprised Jonathan even wants me here."

"Mike, he doesn't blame you for getting so busy with your career," Nancy said in a soothing tone. "And Will doesn't blame you either."

"That's kind of you to say, but I don't believe it for a second," Mike said.

Nancy sighed.

"Well come inside and quit letting all the warm air out," Nancy said. 

Mike followed his sister into her home.

"Besides, you can talk to Will later when he gets here."

Mike froze as he was taking off his jacket. He stared up at his sister with wide eyes.

"Will's coming here?" he asked in a small voice.

"Of course he is!" said Nancy impatiently. "Will always comes to Christmas every year. You know it's his favorite holiday!"

"Are you sure I should be here?" Mike asked. "Will and I haven't seen each other in almost 15 years!"

"Which is all the more reason why you should be here," Nancy said. "You two were best friends all those years and it's sad that you two grew apart. This would be a great chance for the two of you to catch up!"

Mike sighed.

"There's not much to catch up on," Mike said. "I work all the time and I'm always on call. And this is the first Christmas in years that I haven't spent it working. What more does Will need to hear about?"

"Well, you can just listen to him talk if that's what you want, Mike. You're a great listener and I know Will is gonna want to talk with you when he gets here."

"If you say so, Nance," Mike said. "Anyway, where's Jonathan and Jake?"

"Jonathan is in the kitchen cooking and Jake is upstairs getting cleaned up."

"Lead the way to the kitchen."

Nancy led Mike past the living room and into the kitchen, where Jonathan was working steadily to get the evening meal ready. He even had on a chef's hat to complete his look. Jonathan beamed when he looked up and saw Mike walk into the kitchen.

"Mike, it's been way too long!" Jonathan said as he hurried forward and pulled Mike into a hug.

"Good to see you, too, Jonathan," Mike said, unable to return Jonathan's enthusiasm and getting an uneasy feeling again.

"Are you okay, Mike?" Jonathan asked as he went back to dashing about the kitchen.

"He's worried about seeing Will," Nancy answered for Mike. Mike glared at her. "He thinks Will isn't gonna be happy to see him."

"Are you kidding?" Jonathan asked, sounding incredulous. "Will's been so excited ever since he heard you were coming this year, Mike! He can't wait to see you and catch up!"

"I don't see why," Mike said in a quiet tone, almost quiet enough that he thought nobody would hear him. Apparently, Jonathan had ears like a hawk.

"Mike, do you seriously think Will is mad at you for missing his wedding?" Jonathan asked. "He understood that you had just gotten hired to work for the state government; he knew you were gonna be busy trying to figure out your new job. He was never mad at you, Mike. To be honest, I think he was a little hurt that you stopped talking to him and stopped coming to family functions after Nancy and I got married."

"I'm always too busy working."

"You know you're allowed to takes days off, right Mike?" Nancy asked. "You put too much pressure on yourself."

Mike shrugged.

"Well, anyway, you're here now and you can see Will and catch up with him when he gets here," Jonathan said. "Now listen, why don't you go into the living room and sit down in the recliner? I'll bring you some hot chocolate in a minute and you can catch up with Jake."

Mike grinned.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see that kid," he said. "It's been way too long."

"He's excited to see you, too, Mike," said Nancy. "He hasn't stopped talking about it since we told him you were coming."

Mike and Nancy walked into the living room. Mike plopped down in the recliner next to the Christmas tree. He had just a few moments to admire the tree before he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, accompanied by a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Uncle Mike! Uncle Mike!"

Mike stood up and grinned as he saw his nephew Jake running toward him. 

"There he is!" Mike shouted as Jake jumped into Mike's embrace. Mike groaned as he picked up Jake, hugging him tightly. When he put Jake back on the ground, Mike pretended to huff from lack of oxygen. 

"Jake, my boy, you're so grown up now! You should be picking me up!"

"No!" Jake replied, looking affronted.

"How old are you now, kiddo, a hundred?"

"Uncle Mike, I'm 10!"

"Ten?" Mike repeated, gasping slightly. "Goodness, that means you might be getting too old for presents!"

"No way!"

"All right, all right," Mike said, laughing slightly. "You can still get presents, Jake. In fact, I've got some in the car that have your name on them!"

"I'll go get those," Nancy said, standing up from the couch and walking toward the front door. "You two just stay right there and hang out and I'll take care of getting everything inside. Mike, your keys in your coat pocket?"

Mike nodded before he sat back down in the recliner while Jake was looking for something on the Christmas tree.

"So, Jake, did your Mom tell you about my new job?" Mike asked.

Jake nodded. 

"Are you gonna live in the White House, Uncle Mike?"

Mike chuckled.

"Oh no, kiddo, that's just for the President and her family," he said. "I'm gonna work in the White House, but I'm getting a new apartment in Washington D.C. that's close by."

"That's cool, Uncle Mike," Jake said, taking an ornament off the tree and walking over to Mike. 

Jake joined Mike on the recliner, placing himself in Mike's lap.

"What do you have there, Jake?"

Jake held out the ornament for Mike to look at. Mike's breath hitched when he realized what he was holding.

"Mom and Dad said this was your favorite Christmas ornament," Jake asked. "They said you and Uncle Will both made one when you were kids."

Mike grinned at his nephew.

"That's right. Your Uncle Will and I made these Christmas ornaments when we were about your age," Mike said.

"Can you tell me the story, Uncle Mike?" Jake asked, looking up at Mike with sincerity in his eyes.

"Sure kiddo. Well, one day, we were at my house hanging out together and your Uncle Will had the idea to turn our DND characters into Christmas ornaments..."

* * *

Mike and Will were sitting comfortably together on the sofa in Mike's basement. It was snowing outside and they had spent the early afternoon having a snowball fight with Dustin and Lucas before their friends had to head home. Mike and Will had fled to the basement and were watching Christmas movies on the TV.

"Hey Mike?" Will said when the latest program went to a commercial break. 

"Yeah Will?" Mike said, looking over at his best friend and giving him a warm smile.

Will blushed.

"I was wondering," Will said. "Uh, what if we made our DND characters into Christmas ornaments?"

Mike's eyes widened as he realized the brilliance of Will's idea. 

"Will that's a great idea!" Mike exclaimed. "We can put them on our trees. Maybe you could take mine and I can take yours?"

Will nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Brilliant!" Mike exclaimed. "I think there are some fish hooks in the garage we can use to attach to the top of our characters and then hang them on our trees." 

With that, Mike barreled up the stairs and to the garage, leaving Will in the basement for a few moments. Mike soon returned, carrying some fishhooks carefully. 

"I think these will work," Mike said. "I also found the hot glue gun so we can put the fishhooks on the characters."

"Cool," Will said, grinning up at Mike, who blushed just like Will had moments earlier. 

Mike and Will cleared the DND table before putting down the glue gun and fishhooks while Will fetched their characters from their DND board. Mike plugged in the hot glue gun to get it warm.

"It's a good thing these come with multiple versions of each character," said Will. "Otherwise you'd have to buy a whole new set."

Mike laughed.

"Yeah that's true. I don't think Mom would like me asking her for another set just for the characters," Mike said. "I wonder if you can get the characters by themselves."

Will shrugged.

"Maybe you could, but luckily you don't have to."

Mike nodded as he carefully picked up his own DND figure and a fishhook. He grabbed the hot glue gun with his free hand and used it to to carefully glue the fishhook to the top of his knight character. Mike held the two pieces together and handed the hot glue gun over to Will, who glued a fishhook to the top of his Will the Wise character. 

It only took a few minutes for the glue to dry. Once they were both sure the fishhooks were securely on top of their DND characters, Mike and Will set them down on the table and admired them.

"That was a great idea, Will," Mike said, grinning at Will, who blushed again.

"Thanks, Mikey," Will said shyly.

"I like that this is just something we did by ourselves," Mike said. "I can't wait to put Will the Wise on my tree. It's my new favorite ornament."

* * *

"So from then on, your Uncle Will and I always had each other's DND characters put on our Christmas trees," Mike said, finishing the story.

Jake had listened to the story with rapt attention. He hadn't taken his eyes off Mike since Mike started remembering how the ornament was made.

"And this is Will the Wise?" Jake asked, holding up the ornament.

Mike nodded.

"That's right. Your Mom must have found it in the Christmas decorations at your grandparents' house," Mike said. "I haven't seen that ornament in years. I'm glad to see it on your Christmas tree."

"Don't you want to have it, Uncle Mike?"

Mike thought about it for a moment.

"I think it's probably a better idea if you hold on to it for me, Jake," he said. "I don't have a Christmas tree of my own since I'm rarely at my house on Christmas. And now that I'm gonna be working in the White House, I don't know if I'm going to get a tree for my new place. So, I think it should stay here and you should take care of it for me. Can you do that for me, Jake?"

Jake nodded.

"That's a good kid," Mike said. 

Just then there was the sound of knocking at the front door. Jake leapt out of Mike's lap and ran to the door before Mike had any time to react. Mike was just about to stand up when he heard Jake call out at the front door.

"Uncle Will, you're here!"

Mike froze in his spot. Knowing that Will was coming over was one thing. It was another thing entirely to actually see Will in person. Mike took several breaths to calm himself down before he stood up properly just as Jake walked into the room, followed closely by Nancy and Will.

Will looked just the same as Mike remembered. His hair was cut short instead of in the bowl cut of their childhood, but Mike could recognize his old friend in an instant. Will's eyes seemed to light up when he saw Mike.

"Mike! Oh my gosh, hi!" Will exclaimed, running up to Mike and practically throwing himself on Mike.

"Hi Will," Mike said, chuckling weakly as he hugged Will back. He couldn't help but feel that he was at home with Will in his arms again. It was like no time had passed and they hadn't grown apart due to Mike busying himself with his career. 

"How are you doing?" Will asked, beaming at Mike. "You must be exhausted from helping run a presidential campaign."

"Yeah, it was a lot of hard work, and it ended up working out in our favor," Mike said, grinning as he and Will sat down on the sofa together.

"I'm gonna go help Jonathan in the kitchen," Nancy said. "Jake, why don't we let your uncles catch up together, hmm?"

"Sure thing, Mom," Jake said happily, grinning at Mike and Will before he followed his mother out of the living room, leaving Mike and Will alone for the first time in 15 years.

"So, how have you been, Mike?" Will asked.

Mike shrugged.

"Busy like always," Mike said. "Working in politics consumes pretty much all of my life, which is probably why you never see me at family get-togethers."

"Yeah I get it," Will said, nodding. "I've missed seeing you, Mike. It's been too long."

"Yeah it has. I'm sorry about not being able to see you, Will."

"It's okay, Mike. You're busy and I get it. I imagine you'll be pretty busy now, right? Jonathan said something about you going to work in the White House now that Senator Harris has won the election."

Mike nodded.

"I'm gonna be the Deputy Communications Director in the White House," Mike said. "Basically I'm gonna assist in speech writing for the Senator when she becomes President. I'm actually working on her inaugural speech right now and it's probably the biggest speech that I'm ever gonna help write."

"Mike, that's incredible!" Will exclaimed. "I'm so proud of you!"

Mike blushed as he always did whenever Will complimented him.

"Thanks, Will. That means a lot coming from you. Really."

* * *

Will woke with a start. He wasn't sure what had woken him up, but it was sudden. Will leaned over to the nightstand and checked the time on the phone. It was after midnight, which meant that it was officially Christmas. 

Will stood up from the bed and walked toward the door, throwing on his robe, and opened it. He started walking toward the kitchen to get a drink of water but hesitated when he heard someone in the living room. He tiptoed over to the living room and saw Mike sitting next to the Christmas tree in the recliner. Mike was holding something in his hands, but Will was too distracted from the sound of Mike crying to think about anything else. Will hurried into the living room and bent down next to the recliner. 

"Mike! Are you okay?" Will demanded.

Mike stiffened when he heard Will's voice. He quickly wiped away his tears and tried to put on a happy face, but failed miserably at it.

"Oh Will! Hi," Mike said, clearing his throat.

"What's going on, Mike? Are you okay?"

Mike sighed deeply but didn't respond. 

"Mike, come on. You can tell me what's going on. You're my best friend, remember."

"That's just it, Will," Mike said in a quiet voice, avoiding Will's gaze. "I'm a terrible friend."

"Why would say that, Mike?"

"Because it's true," Mike said. "I've been holding a secret from you all these years. Multiple secrets, actually, and I hate lying to you, Will. I hate it."

Will stared at Mike in confusion for a few moments before responding. 

"Mike, I promise that whatever it is, you can tell me. I won't be mad at you, Mike. I promise. You can always be honest with me."

"You'll hate me, Will," Mike said.

"Mike, listen to me," Will said. "Nothing that you say to me will make me hate you, okay? Nothing. I made a promise to you when we were kids that we would always be friends, no matter what. And yeah, we haven't seen each other in years, but I still want to keep that promise to you, Mike. Because friends don't lie."

Mike sighed deeply and nodded.

"Please don't think terribly of me, Will," he said before he sighed again. "When you told me that you were engaged, I sort of lost myself. I couldn't figure out why of course and then I realized why. It's because I...because...I fell in love with you, Will."

Mike briefly glanced at Will, who remained expressionless. 

"I realized my feelings for you and because I'm a coward and couldn't tell you, I did my damndest to get that job working at the statehouse," Mike said. "I couldn't bear to see you marrying someone else. I thought it would destroy me, Will. So I did whatever I could to get the job and when I did, I was so relieved. I hated that I didn't tell you why I had applied for the job and how I went out of my way to get it as quickly as I could. And that's why I've stayed away, Will. I'm too ashamed of myself to see you. I thought maybe you or somebody else would've figured it out by now, and that's part of why I throw myself into my career."

Mike sighed before he spoke.

"I knew it was a bad idea for me to come home for the holidays," Mike said. "I had a feeling this would happen and that you would hate me. I can just find a cab and leave in the morning so you don't have to see me."

Mike went to stand up, but Will put a hand on Mike to stop him. Mike frowned at Will, who leaned forward and smashed his and Mike's lips together. Mike was taken aback by this action, but quickly found himself melting into the kiss. It was everything he had ever imagined it would be and it was perfect because it was with Will. But then a thought occurred to Mike and he had to stop.

"Wait, wait," Mike said. "What about..." 

"We've been divorced for almost two years, Mike," Will said with a gentle smile.

"Nancy never told me," Mike said in a stumped voice.

"She and Jonathan wanted me to be the one to tell you," Will said. "I was gonna call you and tell you, but Nancy said it would be hard to get ahold of you because the primary season was about to start and you were gonna be busy working on the campaign."

"So you mean..."

"I love you, too, Mike," Will said with a smile. "I always have. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it, but I do."

"Thank god," Mike said, closing the gap between them again and kissing Will again. Mike lost himself in this kiss, which was just as magical and memorable as the first one. He knew that he and Will had a lot to catch up on, but he always knew everything was going to be okay because it was them. It was Mike and Will. Will and Mike.

Mike soon broke the kiss and looked at Will, who was smiling back at him.

"I'm sorry for lying to you, Will," Mike said.

"It's okay," Will said, putting a finger to Mike's lips to quiet him. "I understand why you did it, and besides, it's all water under the bridge now. We have each other now and that's what's important."

Mike nodded at Will and pulled him closer and wrapped him in a hug. He held onto Will tightly, as if Will was a lifeline for him, and Will held onto Mike just as tight. Neither one of them seemed to want to let go of each other. When they finally broke up the hug, Mike held up the ornament of Will the Wise.

"I'm so glad Nancy still has this," Mike said. "I was worried that Mom and Dad would've thrown it away."

"I'm glad she kept it, too," said Will. "Because I still have your character and he always hangs on my tree. I brought him with me and I was thinking we could put him on the tree with Will the Wise tomorrow morning before we open gifts."

"I'd like that, Will," Mike said, pulling Will in for another kiss. "I love you, Will."

"I love you, too, Mike." 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this story!
> 
> Thanks to frogfaceandzombieboy on Tumblr for once again hosting the Byeler Holiday Bash. It gave me an excuse to write this story and I had a lot of fun writing it! I've got one more story to write today that will be published on Tuesday for day seven of the Byeler Holiday Bash.
> 
> By the way, yes, Senator Harris (Mike's boss who won the election) is a nod to Madam Vice President Kamala Devi Harris.
> 
> Happy Holidays, everyone!


End file.
